What is Happening to my Party?

If Tuesday’s vote to renew debate on the Senate’s immigration bill wasn’t a dagger through the heart of many Republicans including myself it was very close. Although it may not have been a fatal stab the damage could very well be permanent.

What our Republican “leaders” (and I use that term loosely) are failing to realize is that if they pander for political gain rather than doing what is right we all lose. Add to that the open hostility being shown by some Republicans to their own base and it is no wonder that the Party is in dire straits.

The vote on Tuesday was on whether to proceed with debate on the immigration “amnesty” bill. 60 votes were required for passage. If you recall in a similar situation a few weeks ago there were not enough votes to continue and the bill was pulled from the floor.

It was a victory for the grassroots and their lobbying efforts. However the White House came in and started pressing Republicans to come over to the dark side. Some Republican senators started blasting their own conservative base. Here are some of the lowlights:

As noted in a CNSNews.com story conservative talk radio recently came under fire for its opposition to the amnesty bill. Who was blasting talk radio? Left-wing radicals? Nope. Republicans like Sens. Trent Lott and Lindsey Graham were doing the talking.

Regarding the amnesty bill and the almost universal opposition to it by conservative radio hosts Sen. Trent Lott said “Talk radio is running America. … We have to deal with that problem.”

Problem? The fact that millions and millions of listeners tune into conservative talk radio each day clearly means that America likes what it hears on these airwaves. However disagree with the White House and Trent Lott and you get criticized.

Then here comes Sen. Lindsey Graham who in typical liberal Democrat fashion played the race card regarding the immigration debate.

Graham suggested that critics of the immigration bill were motivated by racism saying on ABC News “We’ve been down this road before — ‘no Catholics’ ‘no Jews’ ‘Irish need not apply.’”

It is my sincere hope that the voters of South Carolina remember those remarks. It’s one thing to disagree with your own supporters but it’s quite another to call those supporters racists and that is exactly what Graham is doing! What is racist about wanting to protect our borders? What is racist about wanting to enforce existing employment laws? Absolutely nothing!

I am so sick and tired of the rhetoric coming out of Washington regarding this bill. The White House will tout how the number of arrests of illegals have gone up… but mention nothing about the number of prosecutions or deportations. They will mention poll information that says more Americans favor some kind of “comprehensive” immigration reform but then ignore the polls which say that Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of the Senate amnesty bill.

It’s all about cheap labor and even that debate gets twisted with the White House saying we need foreigners to “do the jobs Americans won’t do.” Hello! Has everyone in Washington lost their common sense? Maybe Americans are willing to get paid artificially low wages for an honest day’s work. How about real wages for real work? Take away the illegal workers let the market and wages adjust then come back and tell me there are jobs that require people other than Americans to do them.

The Wall Street Journal has an editorial today in which they try to spin the political benefits for the GOP to vote for the amnesty bill. For one thing the WSJ has never been afraid to play the race card regarding illegal immigration and their position on open borders and cheap labor (regardless of national security issues) is well known. However their latest effort is ridiculous. They can’t even get the politics right.

First they say we should vote for the bill so that immigration is “off the table” for the next election. So passing a bad bill is good politics? How about the politics of addressing the core immigration issues one at a time and building faith with the American people that Washington can get the job done? That sounds like a much better approach to me.

Second the WSJ plays racial politics by saying “The longer term danger is that the GOP is sending a message to Latinos that it doesn’t want them in the party.” Give me a break. As someone who is half Hispanic it is a statement like that which offends me. I don’t know any Hispanic Republicans who don’t want the border enforced and our laws respected. We are talking about illegal activity here!

Yes we do need to reach out to Hispanic voters and there are many ways to do so — but we don’t do it by granting amnesty… we don’t do it by printing more and more signs labels and instructions in Spanish. We do it by showing that the American dream applies to all who will work obey the law and embrace American culture.

And so we have it. Yesterday the following Republican senators sided with most Democrats to keep the amnesty bill alive:

Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Burr (R-NC) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) Craig (R-ID) Domenici (R-NM) Ensign (R-NV) Graham (R-SC) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Kyl (R-AZ) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL) McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Stevens (R-AK) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA).

We must still keep the pressure on the Senate. There are several key votes remaining. The grassroots can still win on this issue.

What the Republican Party needs to see is that there is more at stake than this one issue. It’s no coincidence that donations are down. It’s no coincidence that long-time activists are frustrated to the point of not voting. When Republican officials abandon the party they shouldn’t be surprised when grassroots conservatives abandon them.